Arizona weekly citizen., 1887-12-17
THE ERA OF SLANG.
EXPRESSIONS WHICH SEND THE cREEPS UP 4 PURIST'S BACK.

Words for Which No Possible Excuse
 Can Be onsred-Even the Fair Sex
 Have Caught tho Infeetion-BelittIing.
 Not BeautiyinG.
 The era of slang Is upon us with q breadth that Is almost appalling. Not wholly the slang that might be defined as the burlesque or collOquial form of ex- pression. the language of low humor, or the iarcon of thieves and vagrants, but q species that is almost as reprehensible- IL will not do to apologize for it by say Q ing that slang Is probably as old as human speech, and that the early writers indulged in it, especially the Greek and Roman dramatisis: and while we may speak and write against the pernicious habit. we suspect that we will not grow disrusted enough with it to thoroughly uprnot it until it has reached it's clima The worst fact about it is that it Is not confined to the low and the illiterlte. but has invaded the public schools, cultured society and the literature Of our books. . admit that some of the slang expressions are forcible and full of adequateness, among which l might name fired out, ..colossal cheek" etc. Still, even they ought to be tabOoed.
 But what excuse can possibly be offered for such words as "gallOOt, 'sardiner .chump.i % kicker" .'kid, etc; Or such expressions as Let her go, Gallagher, Y" '.NValtzed of on his ear," Il should snicker." ''Now you're shOutin'," etc They are scarcely emphatic and certainly not polite. Even the fair sex have caught the infection and speak about his royal nibs ' or the "howling swell.' the girl of today is ready to "bot her bottom dollar, wants tO know what you're givin' her, lets you know that you are ''Of your base, " and insists that you shall 'cOms lfT !" s'yamosc. '' ..sketladdlc, n ''absquatu- ate. " and all that You do her slight favor and she eXclainis, ''Oh, thanks, aw- tully,' Why she should thank you with reverend fear is beyond your cOmpre- iension. Ask her tO sing yOur favorite sentimental ballad and she will probably say, "Oh. really, Mir. -. l cawnt- It's too utterly, toO-tOo'
 WASTED SYMPATHY.
 While playing lawn tennis with her shs suddenly cries out, "Oh, you've given me such a twist" You feel exceedingly alarmed; you are afraid that her collaT bone is broken or that at least her wriS has been dislocated. You discover, how ever, that it is but tennis slang and that your sympathy has been wasted. She confidently tells you that Jennie Some body Is mo good" and had the check t9 propose to '-stratchn her at tho meet ing of the club. because sho hadn't ''forked over'' the ''spOndOolicks for the last quarter. All that is to be depre- cated. but the girls, heaven bless them, look so pretty. and use the terms SD art lessly, that l haven't the heart to be se- were in my TeprOOf.
 IL isn't pleasant To be accosted ty one's j-year-Old hopeful as ''an old snOOzern or Co know that he is lying in wait to "knock the stufIin' '" out of neighbor's boy, or Co wipe up the floor" with him. Or tO hear our short skirted but high spirited daughter tell the aforesaid brother that she wishes the other boy would paste him on the snOOt. or knock him slean out tine box" or into the middle of next week" ] don't know that am es- pccially sensitive, and yet l must say that such expressions send the creeps up my back
 The editor swings a nasty quiIl;n the hired girl ls pot rastler; when a thing suits Us it's ''just the cheese" when too noisy We are told to dry up," or to ''sus- peud.' when cuuningly on the alert we say, mot if the court knows itself;' II one day Is not available mother one Is; when We die We pass in our checks are put away on ice" and are finally planted. 50 might go on nd minimum. You can think, am sure, of at least a hundred words and phrases 10 which have made no reference. For inventiBg cute words and phrases our country lends the procession. They are clever and ap- propriate, get into the topical song. the public 'catch on" and they live and thrive, and in many instances the dictiOn- ary finally legitimizes them.
 Slang, l insist, is the fungus on the stem. It is not the grafted fruit. It Is the scum of language. It often belittles; it never beaUtiiles IT We all spoke and wrote in a less exaggerated manner we would be less exaggerated in our ways of life and thought. Life, as we'll as speech, would perhaps grow more simple. more true, more worth hying.-"Obseryer'' in Philadelphia Call